


at last, they see the light

by alwaysyourqueen



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: F/F, First Kiss, Jester Is A Literal Disney Princess, Tangled AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-02
Updated: 2019-01-02
Packaged: 2019-09-30 19:52:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,680
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17230178
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alwaysyourqueen/pseuds/alwaysyourqueen
Summary: Jester Lavorre has been happy to live in a tower her whole life. Her father tells her it's safer, and why shouldn't it be? She's brought to question it when an attractive drifter finds her way up and the outside world — and her estranged mother — becomes that much closer.





	at last, they see the light

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Prim_the_Amazing](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Prim_the_Amazing/gifts).



> This is my contribution for the Critical Role gift exchange this year (critroleexchange on tumblr)! It's for the lovely primtheamazing. They asked for what essentially comes down to a Tangled AU and I uh…went a little overboard from my own expectations. I hope you enjoy it.

Jester lived her life more or less away from the world. Her father — who she knew adored her and did everything to keep her safe and protected — couldn’t risk his daughter being hurt if the outside world knew about her. Hence, Jester had grown up in a tower. This tower had no doors and just one window, looking out over the sea.

She loved the sea air. The breeze came through every day, along with the sounds of the nearby town she could just watch for hours on end. She had journals and journals and walls coated in writing between her and the Traveler, the god no one knew existed.

There was so much she wanted to do and see. She trusted her father that the world out there was too terrifying — it would hurt her and her father would lose her like he lost her mother, to awful and terrible people. She thought to herself that one day she’d be ready to go and un-lose her mother, and then maybe she’d be allowed to leave and adventure all on her own. With the Traveler’s help, she could do anything.

But for now, she’d stay at home and do her same routine every day. Her days started with cooking breakfast with whatever her father had left her. Then she tended her horns, her tail, her teeth, and her skin. If Father was visiting he’d fly up to the window and come in and tell her about his latest business, what he was doing in the town she loved to watch so much. He’d fly back down and she’d draw all over the walls for hours, and then she’d work on her newest dress, something pink and frilly and covered in bows while snacking on whatever tasty treat her father had left for her to sample. Her favorite part was writing to the Traveler about her day, regaling him with stories of the people outside she watched while she worked. Then she’d make something else to eat, and eat it while she watched the nightlife of the city start, all the while writing to the Traveler. Close to the end, she’d stay there, laying down in her bed at the end of the day, daydreaming about what adventures would come for her while she read her favorite books until she fell asleep or watched the stars from her window. Not every day was like this, but almost every day.

Today was very different.

It wasn’t a day when Father was visiting, that was for sure. He had said he was leaving on a trip, which was why he’d have to be gone for four days. He’d left her with enough food for a week, just in case, with some fresh treats and some dried meat and fruit in case something went bad.

It was a day when there was a festival happening in the town. People danced and shot poppers and were drinking and it smelled terrible and she loved it. She watched as they spun and laughed and wished with all of her heart that she could be down there. But no, she was a good daughter and would not do that to her father. He’d be worried sick if she was gone. If he found out… which he would.

What she didn’t expect to see was looking down the tower wall and seeing someone climbing up it. Her father always used a flight spell, but this person didn’t look like her father. They had dark brown hair and a blue outfit with a brown cloak tied around their neck, and they were using small blades to make slow progress up.

Jester panicked a little, and grabbed what she could find — a pan from her stove. A good enough weapon to be sure. She stood next to the window and waited with bated breath, going through all the horrid scenarios.

She finally settled on kidnapping. This person must be trying to steal her away, take her away from her father and the protection of the tower and the protection of the Traveler. That must be their evil plot. She wouldn’t let that happen, she wouldn’t let her father lose her like he lost her mother. No, she’d definitely defend herself and prove that she could be trusted to take care of herself. Two birds, one stone! Two birds, one pan?

The figure stepped into the window and seemed confused when getting a once-over of the room. Just as they looked towards Jester, she clocked them with the pan, a resounding thud as the metal hit the person’s head. They instantly collapsed to the ground.

Jester was still panicking, trying to figure out what to do. She dropped the pan back on the stove and grabbed rope, tying the figure to a chair after confiscating their personal effects. She began going through them, and draped the brown cloak over her own shoulders.

First and most notably, a quarterstaff. It was a long stick of wood — polished and nice, comfortable to swing, and twirled very dramatically when she tried. Secondly, a weird amount of bacon. Like, a lot of bacon, that had just been in her pocket. Third, a bag of coins. Jester didn’t understand money, but she was guessing this was a lot of money for some random person. Lastly, what looked to be animal biscuits in a burlap bag.

While Jester was eating some of the bacon (it was good, and she had no reason to think it wouldn’t be), the person came to and instantly said, “What the _fuck_ is going on. Where am I, and am I dead and in pink hell?”

She instantly sprung into action, standing with the person’s quarterstaff held out like a sword. “I don’t want to hurt you. Just answer my questions and everything will be okay.”

“You’re holding that wrong.”

Jester started circling the chair with the staff still out. “I’m the one asking the questions here. Who are you?”

The person was staring at Jester like she was absolutely insane, but they still opened their mouth to answer. “You can just call me Laurence.”

“Okay… Laurence… what are you doing here? Are you here to steal everything I own? Or kidnap me?”

“I don’t even know who you are. I thought I was getting to someone else by going in here. I didn’t expect,” she gestured with her chin at the room around them, “all of this.”

“Why shouldn’t I go call for help right now?”

“For one, you have me tied up. For another, you don’t get out much, do you?”

Jester was taken aback by the second question. It was true, she didn’t go out of her tower much. Ever. Ever was the right modifier. She’d never been out of it, as far as she knew. “So what?”

Laurence looked at her with a look of mixed pity and envy — a strange combination, to be sure. Jester was trying to make out what her expression meant, and what they were going to do about it, when her prisoner of sorts spoke up. “I can take you down to the festival. Climb down, have fun down there, I’ll buy you some nice things, and I’ll bring you back here. Party for a day and no one will know you’re gone.”

There was literally nothing Jester wanted more than to leave, go with Laurence right now and go down to the festival. A day of freedom, without Father knowing, and be around people for a while. Be around real actual people and do real, actual things. That was an intoxicating offer. Jester had never had to say no to something, and she didn’t see why she had to start now. She’d already proven she could defend herself, so it couldn’t hurt to go with someone who knew things outside of the tower better. Right? Right.

“Fine. I’ll go with you, you show me the festival, and you bring me back here right after sundown. Deal?” Jester put on a very professional face and extended her hand to shake. Laurence did not shake it on account of having her arms tied to her sides.

“Deal. Can you untie me now?”

* * *

“This is so much fun!” Jester exclaimed as she clung to Laurence’s back as she descended the side of the tower. The tiefling was carrying all of Laurence’s belongings to keep them out of the way. Laurence was using two throwing knives to once again scale the wall of the tower.

She was having far less fun.

“Can you keep it down? I’m trying to focus on not dropping you.”

Jester quieted down, but she adjusted just a little to look back at the town. This was exhilarating, freeing, and also terrifying. The thoughts running through her head varied from how much fun this was to how much trouble she would be in if her father discovered she was leaving the tower. Maybe she’d be locked and wouldn’t have the window anymore, maybe she would have some of her dress materials taken away so she couldn’t make anything new.

Then she felt a thump and heard Laurence say, “Get off. And give me my shit back.”

While in the process of handing Laurence her quarterstaff, money, and some of the remaining pocket bacon, she asked, “So what are we doing first? Drinking, playing games, eating food, dancing?”

Laurence sighed and made an overdramatic arms out wide gesture, saying, “It’s your day out. What do you want to do? They have fried somethings at the market stall, all the beer a person could ever drink, and music will go on until people stop tipping the musicians.”

“I want to do everything! Let’s get food. Do you need money for the food?” Jester was practically bouncing off the walls with excitement at the revolutionary concept of being able to choose her own food. She’d always just had what her father brought her — which was always delicious — but now she would get to choose her own. “Whatever fried is, I want a lot of it.”

“You’re not a cheap date, are you?”

“I’m not any kind of fruit.”

Laurence went ahead of Jester to a stall, with both food _and_ a person to sell it. They were getting to a crowded area, where instead of walking around in wonderment, Jester would actually have to push through to keep up with her guide. She elbowed several people by accident and caught up with Laurence just as they got to the stall. “What do you want?”

Jester looked over all the food and it all looked weird. Something that reminded her of a sausage was there so she pointed at it. “I want that. Two of them, please.”

The man at the stall took a silver from Laurence and handed the two of them food. Jester got her two sausages (which were covered in a hot but tasty crust, and they were skewered on sticks) and Laurence was eating a weird cake-looking thing out of a brown container. It looked good, but there was almost none left by the time she’d eaten her sausages. While eating, they walked through the festival and passed a dance floor. Everyone from the town seemed to be there, dancing through their shoes and laughing as they twirled around one another. It was fascinating and Jester loved seeing them with their different dances. Had she not been eating, she would have joined them immediately.

As soon as they finished eating, Jester grabbed Laurence’s hand and tugged her towards the dancing people. “We have to dance. We _have_ to.” She was positively brimming with excitement, to the point where she didn’t register Laurence’s resistance and attempt to stay away from the crowd.

Once there, Jester tried to match the pace of the others, swinging herself into the sound of the music and laughing.

“I don’t — I don’t dance.”

Jester finally looked back at the woman across from her. It was the first real good look she got at Laurence’s face. She was very pretty, and had a lot of little marks all over her face. Like she got punched by a spike once. But her eyes were soft, despite what she was trying to do. They were kind of half-dancing together, trying to match the others but clearly neither of them knowing what they were doing. “You don’t need to be good at dancing. It’s fun! I dance all the time, this is the first time I’ve done it with someone else.”

“My name’s not Laurence,” the woman replied, her face visibly pained from the action of saying it. She almost looked constipated, or like saying this was taking a punch in the gut. “It’s Beauregard. You can just call me Beau, okay?”

“I’m Jester. Beauregard is a pretty name.”

Jester didn’t even register that it was weird that Laur- Beau had given her a fake name. She was just having fun with a beautiful lady on a dance floor at a party. Beau looked confused, then thankful, and she continued to follow Jester as they twirled about. She got more into the rhythm, holding one of Jester’s hands and holding her hip with the other. Jester was loving the sound of the music, the feeling of being surrounded by people.

She was **thriving**.

The current song the musicians were playing came to a stop, and everyone on the dance floor slowly halted and took a breath. It was in that moment Jester decided to be brave because this was already the most bizarre and wonderful day of her life. She couldn’t get enough of this. The sweat of dancing and of climbing and the horrible, amazing stink of the place was getting her even more amped up.

Jester leaned forward (and up) to Beau and kissed her squarely on the lips. It was, by anyone else’s standards, a terrible kiss. She barely hit the right place, her lips were parted just a tad so it wasn’t right, but it was her first one.

Elation carried her through it and back down to earth, as the music began again, and Beau said, “I, uh, have you kissed anyone before?”

“No. I’ve never left the tower before today, or had a real conversation with anyone but my father. I’m very capable, but I’ve never had a chance to prove myself.” The words came out in a different order than she expected, but she’d never talked about it before. It seemed fine.

“You seem like you think this is fine. You know that’s monumentally fucked up, right?”

“What do you mean?”

“It’s fucked up that your dad kept you locked up in a tower like that. I didn't see a fuckin’ door in your room, and you have never left. Most people go out all the time. Is he the only person who’s ever seen you before me? Anyone who did would remember.” There was a hint of something Jester couldn’t quite figure out in the way Beau said that. A bitterness, but also guilty happiness.

“My mother saw me. But I haven’t seen her since I was far too little to remember. All I know is she was beautiful and red.”

“Red?”

“Like me, but red. I look like if you took my dad’s colors and put them on my mom. That’s what he says.”

Beau came to a stop from dancing and pulled Jester to the side of the dance floor, to which the other protested but inevitably came along. They shoved their way past a couple people and sat down on a bench near the side of the road. “Jester, you shouldn’t go back to your tower. I don’t care what your dad has said to you. No one should be locked away from a world they want to see. No dad should do that to his daughter. No one should do that to you.”

“He takes care of me. I want to go out, but I know what he’s doing is for the best.” Jester had never doubted that about her father before, but she had to think on it for a second. She was mostly disappointed to have missed out on things like this festival in the past. It couldn’t hurt for her to go out like this, right? She hadn’t gotten into any trouble or gotten hurt.

“Someone can love you and just want to control you. Take it from me, you should get out while you have a chance. Someone who loves you doesn’t want you stuck in a room by yourself all day.”

Jester had to think for a few moments, and she didn’t know what she was going to do about it. Beau made a good point, but she also didn’t know anything else. She didn’t have a point of reference. And there was only one solution to that. She could see now that everything was building up to this. “Beau, you should help me find my mom!”

“I’m going to what now?”

“Help me find my mom! Then I can see how she wants to parent me and we can figure things out. I can fix my family and prove to my dad that I’m a capable adventurer and I don’t need to be protected anymore.”

Beau took Jester’s hand in both of hers, like she was going to make some gesture. But it fell short, and she just was sitting there with Jester’s hand in hers looking like the sensation of having a feeling was making her vaguely sick. “I don’t know who your dad is, but he’ll be looking for you, you know.”

“I don’t care. I know him, and he wouldn’t hurt me even if he could find us.” Jester squeezed on Beau’s hand. Her eyes were bright and she was still riding her elation.

“You deserve to meet your mom, Jessie. I’ll help you find her.”

Jester threw her free arm out and dived to kiss Beau. She threw her arm around Beau’s back, and emphatically kissed her.

Beau kissed her back, and they both seemed to like it. Beau caught Jester’s lip with her teeth before letting go, realizing if this was her second kiss and that she should keep things on the easy side. The kissing was awkward, and Jester clearly didn’t know what she was doing.

It lasted a couple minutes, at which point someone walked by and shouted, “Get a room!”

Beau got up and looked ready to murder the man who shouted at them, but Jester grabbed her wrist. “He didn’t mean anything by it, let’s just get started on getting ready to go.” With a sigh, Beau relented and crossed her arms in front of her.

“Hate assholes like that who think I’ll listen to them just because they yell at me. Rules rules rules. If I want to make out with a cute girl I’ll fucking do it.”

All that ran through Jester’s mind was that Beau called her cute. She loved feeling cute! But someone said she was, and someone she thought was beautiful too. “I wanna do that again, or more, if you want.”

“We can keep our options open.” Beau reached up and brushed a strand of hair out of Jester’s face and smiled, the only smile Jester had seen on her face as of yet. It was soft, and, if she knew Beau at all in the couple hours they’d known each other, it looked like she was ready to say a lot of things but didn’t know how to. “I don’t want to push our luck when your first kiss was in this shitfest. If you want a real party, I should bring you to Hupperdook.”

“Hupperdook? That’s a funny name.”

“Yeah it’s fucking hilarious. They throw the best parties there.”

“I bet my mom would love a big party. We could check for her there. And the Traveler will watch over us the whole time.”

Beau’s smile was gone, but the particular brand of scowl she had on showed Jester she was amused. She was already learning the other’s expressions, and it felt really good to feel like she was actually accurately reading someone.

“We should start collecting things to travel. We’ll need food and other things probably. Do you know where to go shopping for travel gear?” Jester tried to come up with a list of things, but all she could think of were all her things at home. And that wouldn’t necessarily be what she needed on the road. Beau just nodded.

She led the way to the local general store. Jester couldn’t really keep up with all of that. Lots of purchasing, in which Jester spent the time looking at the cute knickknacks the store had on its shelves. There were many cute animals modeled to be used as decorations, clay statues only two inches high. Beau nearly had to drag Jester away from the shelf and say that no, they would not need any cute figurines.

Once outside the shop, Beau arranged all the items in her pack. “I think we should be set to go. Do you need any other clothes or anything from your room?”

“No. I want to get started right away. It’s been a long time and I want every second with my mom that I can.” Jester looped her arm under Beau’s, grasping her tightly. “So, where do we get started?”

“This way.” Beau pointed towards the festival. “The exit of town is on the other side.”

“Oh! I do have one more thing I need.”

Beau simply raised an eyebrow and watched as Jester simply patted her lips with her finger. “One more.” Jester’s smile only widened as Beau rolled her eyes and kissed her again. Indulging in her little game was keeping her excited, and Jester excited was keeping Beau bright.

“What’s your mom’s name?”

“M. Lavorre.” Jester didn’t actually know what the M stood for, so this was all she had to go on. It would be a detective story.

“Guess we have to start somewhere.”

**Author's Note:**

> Happy Holidays everyone! Comments always welcome. I uh. Might continue this.


End file.
